It’s hard to believe, but many schools are already looking ahead to the new year! You’re thinking about things like new enrolments and subject selections for existing students. Then there’s all the planning that enrolments and different choices put in motion. Not to mention staffing changes!
Schools are change managers by default – nothing stays the same in a school – and EdSmart is here to support you through those changes. You are the reason we do what we do.
Let me share some features that will enhance this process for you 🧑🏫
1. Conditional Workflows
Have you ever filled out a Form only to realise you don’t know who it’s supposed to go to? We’ve all been there, but EdSmart’s got your back!
While you could create a Form Template for every situation, that would generate a LOT of templates and a lot of digital clutter! 😵
EdSmart’s Conditional Workflows mean you get to create Forms that go to the right people automatically, without the Form Creator knowing the nitty gritty – and all from the one template. That’s especially great news for any new hires, not to mention your Template managers!
Conditional Workflows can be applied to Parent/Students Slips and School Forms. You can create Leave Application Forms that go to different approvers based on the applicant’s Faculty or Staff Type. You might create Risk Assessment Forms that go to different people based on the level of risk or location. When you stop and think about it, the possibilities are endless!
Here’s how Conditional Workflows could work in a particular instance:
Cecilia Robinson, a member of the STEM faculty, wants to apply for PD. She fills out the Form and submits it for Approval.
The Conditional Workflow efficiently sends it to the dual STEM Heads of Faculty (HoF) at Cecilia’s school. Muffin McLay is one of those HoFs.
When the Approver looks at the Workflow history at the bottom of the Form, they can see their User Group, which was automatically chosen by Cecilia’s Faculty selection to approve this Form.
After Muffin approves the application, their name replaces the User Group in the Workflow summary 👍
Conditional Workflows are an example of very handy EdSmart functionality available to all customers 🤩
2. SMS and Email 'From' Customisation
Most schools add their school logo to EdSmart and customise the email template colours to match those of the school during onboarding. This personal branding is part of building trust with your community by saying, “This is from us, you can trust it”.
But did you know you can also customise your SMS From and Email From identity?
If you’re an EdSmart Administrator, you can change both these things from Settings, although that will change shortly for SMS From – more about that in a moment.
At the bottom of the Configuration page, you’ll find SMS Text Message From Name and Email Message From Name. These are the values configured for EdSmart Academy. Notice there are different character limits and requirements for SMS and Email. The default value is EdSmart.
Remember how I said there were some changes coming for SMS From? 🤔
As part of our service providers’ ongoing efforts to reduce scam text messages (yay!), alphanumeric sender IDs (aka. alpha tags) used to send your SMS messages must be registered with the service provider. To implement this important initiative, we need to modify how you submit SMS From changes to ensure they’re registered appropriately, so any messages sent aren’t blocked.
As of the next release, we’ll disable the ability for schools to update the tag within the platform. Instead, we’ll direct you to contact EdSmart Support to perform the update. Then, we can control the registration process and ensure your important SMS communications still get through.
Branding is important, but reducing scam texts is something I’m sure we all support too ✨
🚀 Have you got a scenario or problem you can’t quite solve?
Our product team is always keen to hear about your challenges and how you may be looking for a better way to do things.
Please reach out to our Director of Product and Engineering, Courtney, who would ❤️ to identify new and innovative ways that EdSmart can help.
Until next time! 👋
For further handy hints and tips for optimising your EdSmart usage, make sure you head to our Knowledge Base.
Want to level up your EdSmart knowledge and skills in a more interactive way? Awesome! Then EdSmart Academy is the place for you 🤓
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